Slowing and Growing

A Weekend Getaway to a Small Farm

NEXT RETREAT COMING IN SPRING 2024

Luna Mia Farm, Desboro, Ontario

To be notified about the next retreat, complete the form below.

If you’d like to be notified about the next retreat, kindly complete the form below.

This weekend is about slowing down. 

Take the time to awaken your senses in an authentic rural setting. 

Get away and come home to yourself.

Once you arrive on Friday evening EVERYTHING is included:

Two nights accommodation in our century farmhouse

Six home cooked meals with (very!) local organic ingredients

Organic tea, coffee and homemade lemonade whenever you please

Roam Luna Mia’s 100 acres of forest, meadows, fields, gardens and pumpkin patch. Walk along the pond, stream and nearby river.

Two gentle writing sessions based on Nina’s “Find Your Slow” writing workshop + notebook and writing materials

Think about time differently as you learn about the Mayan Calendar in a talk by Indigenous Mayan farmer, Rony Lec.

The option to hang out with happy, well-cared for farm animals: 10 sheep, 9 chickens, 6 barn cats, 5 ducks, 2 pigs and lovable Clover, the farm dog.

Optional group hike to Kinghurst Forest Nature Reserve on Sunday morning

Nightly gathering around the fire

A take-home surprise from the farm (Hint: It’s orange and round and you’ll harvest it yourself!)

Arrival: 5:30pm onwards on Friday, September 29th, 2023

Departure: Between 1:00 - 2:00pm on Sunday, October 1st, 2023

  • Ready for a change of pace.

    Hungry for outdoor time.

    Comfortable with unstructured time. There will be blocks of open time throughout the weekend that you can fill as you wish - hanging out with the farm animals, napping, walking in the fields…

    Up for socializing. (Though there will be lots of opportunities for alone time too.) Group activities include meals, writing workshops, guided tour of the land, evening fires and an optional hike.

    Are craving a break from constant access to your devices.

    You are comfortable having (fabulous) kids around.

  • Looking for a hotel setting. There will be dishes in the sink and kids’ toys on the floor. You’ll be staying in the real home of busy farmers with a passion for sharing their lives.

    Require minute-by-minute scheduling.

    Insisting on having your phone with you at all times.

  • Slowing And Growing is held at Luna Mia Farm in Desboro Ontario, a 2.5-hour drive from Toronto. Map

  • Friday Evening

    (Sunset: 7:08pm)

    (Harvest Moon)

    5:30pm onwards: Arrival

    6:30 onwards: Buffet-style Dinner

    7:30 - 8:30: Opening Fire

    Saturday

    (Sunrise: 7:08am)

    (Sunset: 7:06pm)

    8:30: Breakfast Around the Table

    (9:15 to 10:30: Buffet-style Continental Breakfast)

    10:00: Guided walk around the farm. Meet the animals.

    12:00: Lunch

    2:00 - 3:30: Find Your Slow Writing Workshop

    6:00: Dinner

    7:30 - 8:30pm: Evening Fire

    Sunday

    (Sunrise:7:21am)

    8:30: breakfast around the table

    (9:15 to 10:30 Buffet-style continental breakfast)

    9:30 - 10:30: Hike (Optional)

    10:30: Harvest Your Pumpkin

    11:00 - 12:00: Closing Ceremony

    12:15: Lunch

    1:00 - 2:00: Departure

  • Rooms are on the second floor of the century old farmhouse. Retreat guests share a bathroom (with full shower) and a kitchenette (including fridge). Bedding and towels are provided.

    Shared Room with two single beds: $485 (includes HST) per person (The shared room is reserved for women.)

    Private room: $505 (includes HST) per person

    This is a small retreat for 4-5 guests.

  • There is no wifi at Luna Mia.

    If you’d like to completely disconnect, we are happy to hold your phones until your departure. You are welcome to leave our number with family or friends in case of emergency.

    Please leave your phones in your rooms during meal times and writing workshops.

  • Heavy sweater

    Rain coat

    When in doubt, pack that extra layer and that extra pair of socks. It can get chilly after the sun goes down.

    If you want to spend time with the animals, explore the farm or get into the garden then bring shoes and clothes that you don’t mind getting (very) dirty.

    Got a creative project in mind in addition to some writing? Bring your knitting, your sketchbook, your mending…

    Is there a puzzle or a book you’d like to make time for? Bring it!

    Snacks: Meals are included. And you can help yourself to coffee and tea at any time. But it’s nice to have your own snacks as well for whenever you’d like them. Guests share a kitchenette which includes a fridge, stove and kettle.

  • Work with wool: The sheep have been sheared and we are preparing the fleece to be turned into yarn.

    Feed the sheep and pigs

    Feed the chickens and ducks and collect their eggs

    Harvest seeds for next season

    Walk Clover, the playful border collie and Australian shepherd mix, who despite the open fields, still insists that a human come with her.

  • Although the retreat will be led in English, French and Spanish are spoken fluently on the farm. Participants are encouraged to write in any language of their choice during writing workshops.

  • Luna Mia Farm is approximately a 2.5-hour drive from Toronto. Free, onsite parking is available to all guests.

    We will help coordinate carpooling when possible. We also have contact information for a local driver who picks up passengers from Toronto and/or the Brampton Go Station.

    For those who will be arriving later, there is also a bus that runs from Pearson Airport on Fridays. It departs at 5:45pm and arrives at 8:15pm in Hanover. We can pick you up from there.

    https://tokcoachlines.com/schedule-services/

  • Complete the form below. We will be in touch within 24 hours.

    We’ll set up a chat with one of us (phone/Zoom - whatever your preference) before registration is final (to answer any of your questions and to make sure it’s a good fit).

    To confirm your registration, either partial ($150.00) or full-payment is required via e-transfer to contact@ninakmoore.com. Kindly make the password: Turtle.

    You will receive email confirmation. More details will follow as the retreat approaches.

    For those paying in two instalments, the remaining amount is due on September 15, 2023.

    Tickets are non-refundable.

  • This is an alcohol, drug, vaping and smoking-free weekend getaway.

  • You are most welcome to take pictures. If you are using your phone as a camera, consider allocating windows of time for picture taking, as opposed to snapping away the whole weekend.

    We ask that you don’t post pictures of our children online.

    We will also be taking pictures and will ask your permission before using your image on our websites and social media platforms.

  • 1:1 Anxiety Support Session with Nina. We’ll chat before the retreat about how you’d like to spend this time. Perhaps you’d like to zone in on slowing down beyond this retreat or developing a (deeper) writing practice. Lots of possibilities. $75/hr ($90/hr outside of retreat)

    In-season organic vegetables and seeds from the farm will be for sale.

Registration and Inquiries:

Meet Your Facilitators

Myriam Legault, MA

Myriam is a writer, a mother, and an ecological farmer. Her first book of poetry was published when she was 23. She went on to write a novel about rural life which became, for a while, required reading in French schools across Ontario. 

Myriam lived in Guatemala for 8 years. She helped run the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute and co-founded the Ecology and Solidarity Council, a non-profit rooted in social justice. She lives in Southern Ontario with her partner Rony and their two children, at Luna Mia Farm.

Nina K Moore, M.Ed., OCT

Nina is a Toronto-based anxiety coach, educator, writer & mother. Her mission is to help others better understand, minimize, prevent—and thrive with—their anxiety. Nina’s work is based on her extensive teaching background (including as a TDSB elementary classroom teacher) as well as her lived experience of learning to live—well—with anxiety. 

Nina facilitates cozy, memoir-oriented writing workshops for all writing levels. She has been a wwoofer for nearly 20 years. Her ten-year-old has six years of wwoofing experience. She lives in Chinatown, Toronto with her daughter.